White House staffer fired for Twitter activity

A White House official working to contain Iran's nuclear program has been sacked for running a Twitter account that revealed insider administration information and mocked his colleagues, the Daily Beast reported.

The newsite reported that Jofi Joseph, "a director in the non-proliferation section of the National Security Staff at the White House, had been surreptitiously tweeting under the moniker @natsecwonk, a Twitter feed famous inside Washington policy circles since it began in February, 2011 until it was shut down last week."

The site said two administration officials confirmed Joseph, who has also worked at the State Department and on Capitol Hill for Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Joe Biden, was the "mystery Tweeter who has been tormenting the foreign policy community with insulting comments and revealing internal Obama administration information."

Joseph apologized in an email to Politico, saying it "has been a privilege to serve in this Administration and I deeply regret violating the trust and confidence placed in me."

Politico reported that White House and State Department officials had tried to uncover @natsecwonk for months, "a hunt that intensified after he repeatedly expressed doubts about the official administration accounts about the Sept. 11 2012 attack in Benghazi."

Politico noted his "torrent of personal attacks," included mocking female political figures, including Liz Cheney and Ann Romney, "targeting their physical appearance and weight, and he posted a half-dozen tweets questioning the sexual orientation of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)"